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What’s Making Us Happy This Week

Jenny

The Japanese puppet-theatre-inspired live-action film Bunraku‘s animated opening sequence looks kewl! And here’s a trailer for the film, itself. It’s got an appropriately staged, comicky feel to it (reminds me of Sin City) and some interesting casting. I hope they put as much creativity and thought into the writing as they do the visuals, but I guess we’ll see.

Allen

What isn’t making me happy this week? Batman: Arkham City is waiting for me at home, the seventh hardcover volume of Walking Dead ships this week and the new season of Walking Dead has started. I’m a happy geek.

Abby

And the news that there is a Thor 2 in the works, of course, in addition to the Avengers movie.

Robin: On that note, as reported at NYCC, it makes me stupidly happy that one night during filming, when the entire cast was actually in the same place at the same time, Chris Evans sent out a text to everyone that just said, “Assemble.” Geeky movie stars FTW!

Bill

My wife and I were excited because both our kids fell asleep early and we were able to enjoy the season premiere of The Walking Dead. That’s definitely cause for celebration! Also, I have been playing Okabu on Playstation 3, which is one of the happiest games I’ve played in a long while, and it has a nice ecological message as well. Lastly, a new Fruit Ninja game as well as the awesome-looking Mage Gauntlet release on iOS this week!

Jack

I’m happy for Hickman this week — comic book writer Jonathan Hickman, that is. Two weeks ago I mentioned loving Shield: Architects of Forever. Last week I went on something of a Hickman binge, reading Red Mass for Mars and Pax Romana. Both were enjoyable, but Pax Romana really blew me away. It’s about a group of mercenaries who travel back in time to Constantine’s Empire at the behest of the Vatican, with the goal of establishing and securing the primacy of the Catholic Church in the modern world. The way that Hickman uses and parallels historical events in forming his alternate history offers lots of brainy fun, and his layouts and stark compositions (mostly black and white with background washes of color) look like nothing else out there. Hickman is becoming my go-to guy for smart sci-fi comics.

Andrew

I’m happy that Vertigo is moving toward simultaneous digital release! It seemed reasonable that they’d follow soon after DC, but I try to avoid assuming publishers will behave reasonably where digital media are concerned. This time, at least, I am happily surprised.

Jennifer

I am happy that it is Teen Read Week with its comic book friendly theme of Picture It! @your library. We were even able to get our local comic book shop to sponsor our teen programs this week with gift cards and graphic novel (Walking Dead of course!) donations to be used as prizes. Plus I get to meet author Carrie Ryan of The Forest of Hands and Teeth this weekend for our Zombie Author Apocalypse!

Nichole: I am super excited about the theme too, we are having a manga contest for TRW and the entries so far have been AMAZING!

Whitney

Eva:Little Island Comics FTW! Considering how amazing The Beguiling and the staff there is, I can only imagine this sister store is equally great.Robin: I’m so happy about both of those things, Whitney!

Eva

Matthew Morrison

James Robinson is once again writing stories worthy of his legacy. I picked up The Shade #1 over the weekend and not only did it confirm that Robinson’s classic Starman series is a part of the DCnU but it proved to be a wonderful introduction to one of the most charming anti-heroes (or perhaps anti-villain would be more appropriate) the superhero genre has ever had. You don’t have to have read Starman to appreciate The Shade, though long-time fans will undoubtedly get more out of it, having witnessed shadowmancer Richard Swift’s journey from apathetic immortal wastrel to an honest to goodness hero with an arch-enemy and everything.

Gail

I am happy this week because I am finally getting the chance to go to my comic book store and pick up all the titles that have been waiting for me for almost two months. That is the downside of living out in the country — upside is that I will have a entire batch of goodies to catch up on and enjoy. Although I do know what I have ordered, my comic book people always have a few surprises for me that they think I would like or fit in with my research interests.

Brazos

I just finished Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One and it totally made me happy. It dropped anime, manga and comic references galore. Totally worth checking out.

Bonnie

I’m excited to see it, because I remember staying at a family friend’s house on trips to Berkeley and being enchanted with their attic bedroom for their long-grown children. It had the best bookshelves, built right into the beds, and there was a huge collection of Tintin books. I stayed up reading those for hours each time we visited. While I find the animation style just a touch creepy – they’re cartoonish, but not – I’m still excited about seeing the story come to life.

Anna

I’m happy about reveling in my interest for World War II by indulging in the graphic novel Resistance: Book 1 by Carla Jablonski, watching the German film Aimee and Jaguar, and reading Blackout by Connie Willis.

Robin: Yay Blackout! SO. GOOD. Also, Resistance v. 1 is still one of my favorite book covers from the past few years.